Bye for now

I've always wanted to be a writer. I've always thought of myself as a writer, even when I wasn't writing anything but long letters home when I worked in Africa and the Middle East. I've published two non-fiction books on subjects relating to that work. I've also written several novels, all as yet unpublished. One is on the hard drive awaiting my having the initiative to send it out. More important, a couple of characters have been talking to each other lately in my head, during meetings, sitting in the back yard, when I wake up in the middle of the night, driving to work.

I've enjoyed doing this, but I can't both blog and write novels. I have about 45 minutes or an hour between pouring the first cup of coffee and having to start getting ready for work. I need to spend that 45 minutes or an hour doing what I like best and what I want to do for the rest of my life, which is write novels. So I won't be posting here anymore, unless there's something I just have to get off my chest, but then you won't know about it, because you will have stopped looking here.

I thought about revealing who I am here, but there's just one thing. One of my bosses is a conservative and a Republican. She is a very nice woman, and she's very good at her job, and I enjoy working with her, so I don't really want her to know I think voting Republican is a character fault, and voting Republican enthusiastically is a personality disorder, which I have said here several times. I think I may also have called it a genetic defect. I would just hate to have it get back to her that I think she's a political moron, though otherwise a wonderful lady.

But except for her, and people who might tell her what I think about Republicans, I don't really care, so if any of y'all care who I am, email me at cdrealist@gmail.com, and I'd be happy to let you know and to talk about any of the issues I've blogged about.

Bye for now.

On vacation

I am going on vacation for two weeks, back July 30. Here's young cat lying on the patio among jacaranda blossoms. Kids of a friend call it a purple circle tree.

Bored morning

And then some days you wake up and look at the usual science sites, and the news sites, and the political sites, and there are a few mildly interesting research reports but nothing you really have anything to say about. Too much TV and video games reduces kids' attention spans. They found a gene that affects some disease. Healthy food is good for you. And blah, blah, blah. So you go off and graze on the internet until time to get ready for work and blow off the blog for one day.

Light posting

Work is crazy, and I've been staying up too late to get up early enough to get to this before having to get to work by 7, so that's why no posting yesterday or, besides this, today. Maybe nothing until the new fiscal year.

Miserable cold

I haven't posted much in the last day or so, because I have a miserable cold and have no ability to follow a thought more complex than the plot of Gilligan's Island. Maybe tomorrow.

Anonymity revisited

Recently someone contacted me after seeing this blog for the first time and questioned why I felt it necessary to remain anonymous, since I mostly just point at recent research and post pictures of my cats.

Well, it's the rude things I say about Republicans. My organization mostly attracts liberals and independents, but at my level and higher, there are several Republicans I deal with daily. It is not a firing offense to say over and over that voting Republican is a character fault, and voting Republican enthusiastically is a personality disorder, but it would be harder to work with these people day to day if they knew I consider them political cretins, which I pretty much do. They're nice people, and they're good at their jobs, some of which involve budgeting, but they are dangerously wrong about things like, oh, the 2/3 requirement for a state budget.

Ads on this blog

When I set up this blog last September, one of the options was to monetize it, that is, to have Google insert advertisements. Sure, why not? I have dreams.

I put the ad panel way down on the bottom left, and so far I haven't heard from the ad people, and I think I know why, besides the fact that not very many people read this blog.

The ads are mostly for things no respectable child development person would think of buying. I don't want to single any out, mainly because they shift, and by the time anyone sees this, they will be different,* but while some of them are for normal products, like diapers and strollers, many others look like scams, such as magic treatments for this or that ailment; and many are for useless products, like baby videos. I'm glad nobody who reads this would click on them.

*At the moment, it is showing a nice ad from Penny's for baby blankets.

Offline for a few days

I won't be posting for a few days. Something has come up.

Off for a couple of days

I have something personal going on that will prevent me from posting for a couple of days, once I finish this morning. I be back for sure for the ELQIS data subcommittee on Tuesday Monday but probably earlier.

Off today

I'm preparing for and participating in a family event today, so no posting.

Diversions

If you haven't clicked on the links on the left under Diversions, take a second to try especially Indexed and xkcd. They are quintessential nerd humor.

Ads

FYI, the ads along the left side of the page are generated by Google. Right now, I see one for a that is "guaranteed" to teach autistic kids to talk. I hope nobody thinks I would endorse such a claim.

Seeing all similar posts

I just discovered that if you click on one of the labels below a post, it calls up all posts with that label. Cool.

Blog stuff

I'm still figuring out what I want to do with the layout and such, so you might see random changes to the format, which pretty much describes my life, too. If there's something you want or something that bugs you, email me or say something in comments.

The advertising in the left column is random at first, until Google crawls the site and figures out what the subject matter is, after which the ads should be more relevant. Right now, I assume because of the post on the kid with the tattoo, Google thinks it's all about the justice system.